Sick of my dash ! 54 chevy ,...

Im sick of it .... I wanna change it or graph ... Any idea out there or mistakes made ? I really like the 56 olds dash ... help . im sick

 

How about retiring that avatar.... put different gauges in it, bit put them in the middle instead, not in the stock location

 

Omar , whats going on with your dash ?? any changes .. send me a new pic of oprah and ill change it ....

 

Agree - the avatar is freaky. fix that first, dash second

 

HA! my dash is still stock , not sure if i a wanna do more metal work on the 54... I wanna get it done already

 

Im in process of putting a 59 chevy dash in my 53. Still need to put the doors back on and figure out how I want to flow it into the doors.

I really like the 56 olds dash. that is what I would have really liked to put one mine

 

That looks like an impala dash!

 

To each his own--I always thought the '53-'54 Chevy dash and the '49-' 50 Ford dash were among the two best looking dashes of all time.

 

if i remember right my dad told me that a 53-54 olds dash will fit into a 53-54 chevy.i dont have a pic of one but they r a lot different than the 53-54 chevy one

 

The dash [a bit cleaned up but more or less original] is one of my favorite parts of my Bel Air, ...but hey, a guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, go for it!

 

thanks guys

 

I've been wanting a 56 olds in my 54. Sounds like a good choice to me.

 

Yeah, I hear ya. It always seemed to me like they had 2 guys design the dash, one on the left and one on the right. I never liked the drivers side, but thought the passenger side was pretty cool.
My gauges were in pretty bad shape and needed replaced anyway, plus they're 6 volt, so I decided to check ebay for a gauge cluster I liked, I found a 54 olds cluster in nice shape, and they're 12v.
These pictures were taken a while back, so it's just roughed in here, it looks much better now, I built a divider between the glove boxes, and a lip over them, and filled in the radio holes.

I like the glove box and grill, but thought it should go the whole way across.


Again, this is just a rough in


I've always been strongly opposed to "glove mixing". Now, I have separate boxes for left and right gloves.
Actually, I have other plans for the middle one.


This should keep the passengers from smoking.



I really wouldn't recommend going this route if you don't want to get involved in a lot of metal work. In retrospect, it would have been easier to install a whole dash, but they're getting hard to find around here, plus, I like that it's different.
If you're going to do it though, at least do it before you chop it! I'm 6'5" with a bad back and knee, and this job was miserable!

 

Roddinron - I'd love to see a current picture. I like where that's going.

 

Of course, the factory dash is welded in, so you have to break out the sawzall to remove it.... I'd say take everything off and keep the bottom brace across the cowl. Leave a lip of the metal below the windshield and it can become a mounting point for the new dash.

 

this is a great ... i want more of this .... anyone

 

I agree that the '53/'54 instrument cluster needs some help. I always liked the '51/'52 dashes better but I've never seen anyone put one in a '53/'54. Should be about the same width though.

 

nice work tin can!

 

Roddinron,
That has to be one of the coolest dash's I have ever seen.
Very nice.

 

anyone else ....... thanks

 

Bump.....

 

Mines just cleaned up a bit, the lower 3 inches were completely rusted out, so I made a new lower piece. but removed all the blanks and controls.
Godspeed
MrC.

 

nice work mr con !!!!!!!!! i dig it . tin can lets see that dash finished !!!!!!

 

Is that a tat of Oprah ?

 

Jakes- the good news is that oprah is a hit! Bad news is i only saw 2-3 different dashes. I think there has to be more than that out there. I have a 59 dash i have been hording for my 59 short wide, but think it looks good in any car. The olds dash idea has my vote, minus the multi glove box look. Anyway, plenty of sweet dashes out there, i am sure there is a thread on it.

 

just search the classifieds man. theres assloads of cool dashes in cars you wouldnt even think. just keep searchin for sumthin and whatever pops out at you, make it work !

 

Its been almose a year since you started this thread, you cant be too sick of it Get out with the tape measure and find something already! I put a 59 Impala dash in my 47 Ford...mostly cause I already had it in stock and it only cost me $20.00.

 

im tring to get my hands on a 56 .. im gonna cut that mother up

 

There is one for sale on the classifieds right now. Just saying.

 

This pic taken by HAMBer J. Fishbeck @ El Mirage this past weekend.